Aaron Nannini - Cash Uncomplicated: A New Mindset to Building Wealth

Introduction

I never thought I would be successful with my personal finances, much less be in a position to write a book about them. The subject was as foreign to me as traveling to Mars. My personal finances used to mean how much money I would have each month to pay rent, spend at bars, and take a trip now and then.

Saving used to mean accumulating just enough money either to buy something or go on a trip. Not surprisingly, my bank account usually only had hundreds of dollars in itcloser to zero than a thousand. I was the classic paycheck to paycheck story. One missed paycheck and I would have been in financial trouble. As I entered my early thirties, my finances werent any better. I made excuse after excuse. Learning to save and invest my money almost happened by accident.

During the Great Recession, home prices got so low where I live in Southern California, they were impossible to ignore. I didnt know much about real estate at the time, but I knew it was less expensive to own than to rent so I decided to buy. As an educator in the local school district, I didnt make enough money to buy a house, but I was able to scrape together just enough to purchase a one bedroom condo. It wasnt much but it was mine, and I took pride in owning it.

I thought Id live in my one bedroom condo for at least 10 years. I continued to live paycheck to paycheck and just got by. I made the mortgage payments but wasnt financially comfortable. Just opening my credit card or bank statement made my heart race; I always held my breath in hopes that I had more in my checking account than what I owed on the credit card. I basically broke even every month and gained little equity on my one bedroom condo.

A few years later, my then girlfriend, now wife, moved in with me. I spent fewer nights out, and with two incomes, we suddenly had a surplus each month. My first instinct was still to find ways to spend it or to go on extra trips. But then it occurred to me we might try to buy a house. The housing market was finally starting to recover from the economic downturn, and it seemed like a good time to buy. We both felt that if we didnt buy soon, we were going to get priced out of the expensive Southern California market and would be living in the condo for many years to come.

With our wedding only a few months away, we purchased a small, three bedroom house. It was barely over 1,000 square feet but it was home. We still had almost no equity in the condo so we decided to keep it as a rental.

That good decision to buy a home led to other good decisions, and eventually led to me educating myself about personal finance. During my journey, I have learned that the real purpose of saving money is to use that money to invest and grow. Saving should be purposeful, planned out, and intentional. This is contrary to what advertisements tell us and what friends tell us about their lives on Facebook and Instagram. The messages there are to spend, spend, spend, and life will be great.

What I have learned, and continue to learn, is that when I prioritize my values and align my personal finances with my values, my life becomes much more satisfying than any temporary high I might get from spending money. Being highly intentional with money and saving to invest has given me power and control over my personal finances that I never thought possible. The daily pressure and fear of living paycheck to paycheck is long gone.

Four years ago, my wife and I welcomed our first daughter. Three years later, we welcomed girl number two. They are the biggest reasons why I wrote this book. I want my two girls to understand money and never feel controlled or powerless by it like I did.

I want them to invest and never be in the paycheck to paycheck rut that I was in for too many years. I want them to have their financial situations under control so that they can relax and focus on more important things like their families, friends, and passions. I want them to understand compound interest and earn it, rather than pay it. For most of my life, money was a source of fear, stress, and frustration. It is important to me that my daughters have a different experience with money. It wasnt necessary for me to struggle with money; it was a result of my lack of education, ignorance, and an unwillingness to learn. My hope is that this book will give my daughters, and many others, the tools and education to understand money.

This is a personal finance book about mindset, values, and financial behaviors. It is not designed to provide specific investment advice, though there are investment examples to show the power that smart investments can add to your life. I am not a financial advisor, nor do I pretend to be one. I am simply someone who has found financial success by following the principles and strategies outlined in this book. I am living proof that you dont need to have the salary of a doctor, lawyer, or famous athlete to attain financial success. Its not about how much you make, its about how much you keep.

This book is not meant to replace the work you would do with a fiduciary financial advisor. Rather, this is a book that will put you in a position so that you can begin to work with one, or make investments on your own.

In order to benefit from specific financial advice, you really need to have some money first. Compound interest does not compound if you dont have any money. It seems like common sense, but far too many people put the cart before the horse. The information and principles in this book will give you the tools to start accumulating money to invest. Through common sense and easy to learn principles, you will begin to establish habits and routines that will help you generate wealth, rather than wading through financial quicksand month after month, like I did for so long.

The first focus of this book is on life goals, which will help you create financial clarity. It is critical to have crystal clear life goals, because these will dictate your financial choices and values. The second focus of the book is to show you how you can implement habits and routines into your daily life that will allow you to live by your values. The idea is to create an unyielding foundation, that once created, will support your financial success for the rest of your life.

The third focus is to explore the concept of being aware of and intentional with your money. Many of us are all too often unaware of where our money goes. We mindlessly spend it thinking that thats just how things are supposed to be. I am here to tell you its not. This book is about being focused and intentional with your money so that you can maximize your financial potential. Being aware and intentional are cornerstone habits that are crucial to your financial success.

This book contains financial principles that are easy to understand and implement. Much of what I discuss are ideas and concepts that are so simple you will wonder why you havent been practicing them for years. You might even have had some of these ideas yourself. Nothing in this book is complicated or difficult to implement. It contains basic, common sense principles, that when applied, will result in financial clarity and increased wealth over the years.

Each chapter concludes with simple actions you can take to immediately begin progressing toward your financial goals. Some exercises include a template so you can write out your actions in the book. Other exercises ask you to either think about certain ideas or write them down. They are all simple and easy to do.